Understanding
by BrokenButStillStanding
Summary: She had said she could imagine so terrible things that Sansa had to go through, but even through imagining she hadn't thought she actually went through them. Arya and Sansa come to the realization that Littlefinger is trying to turn them against each other. Mentions of non-con, written hastily minutes and unedited since the plot bunnies wouldn't leave me alone.


AN: BRIEF MENTIONS OF NON-CON, BE WARNED!

The door to Arya's room flung open and she immediately rose to her feet, Needle in her hand, but she need not have worried. The only threat that stood in her doorway was her older sister.

Sansa's face grew blank as soon as the door opened, her mouth gaping as though she had forgotten what she had come for. Arya would bet she knew, more excuses. More excuses about betraying their family and sending them all into ruin.

The door was shut gently, and Sansa still faced the wood when she spoke

"This is Littlefinger's doing. I know it."

Arya bit back a sarcastic laugh, rarely anything went on without Littlefinger knowing about it, so whatever it was Sansa thought he did she was probably right.

"Arya, where did you find my note?" She said, still not facing her.

"In your room, in your mattress. You should know, you asked for it to be put there." She bit back

"No I didn't. I haven't seen that note since I wrote it." Her sister said quietly

Arya paused in silence, and as her mind took a moment to digest the new information realization dawned on her. Littlefinger had entered the room with the note, and exited just as quickly.

"Littlefinger just tried to convince me you came home just to murder me." Sansa said, even softer than the last time.

Arya looked up, her neck cracking a bit at the speed. Kill Sansa? She knew she had threatened to do so, but for her sister to actually believe it?

"You truly believe I'd kill you?"

"I don't believe I know who you are anymore, Arya" was her sister's reply.

"And I don't know you."

Sansa finally turned around, her eyes looked red as though she was fighting back tears.

"Arya, I know you are angry and upset with me, but do you honestly believe I would write that note if I thought it would have resulted in all this? I was afraid, and I know you said you'd rather choose anger, but that seems to have always been the difference between us. I would sell my soul to have Mother and Father, Rickon and Robb back with us. I'd give anything."

As Arya looked at her sister she was struck by the sudden realization of how pale she was. There was none of the rosy blush and healthy coloring that she had when she left Winterfell the first time. Her eyes had bags under them and she looked utterly exhausted, she was thinner too. Arya almost reckoned she weighed more than she did by a pound or two. She had never noticed how utterly horrid Sansa looked, and a moment of peace settled in her gut as she realized: she believed her. It didn't make her any less angry, but she knew Sansa. Sansa was a lot of things, but she loved her family.

"I know" Arya said quietly.

Sansa stood at the door, hovering as though she didn't quite know what to do with herself. It was strange to see her always confident sister so unsure.

"Will you tell me what happened to you since we last parted? Everything from the moment you left King's Landing to the moment you showed up at the gates of Winterfell." Sansa asked suddenly.

Arya was quiet for a moment, but eventually nodded and gestured to the seat next to hers.

She didn't know how long telling her tale took but she eventually told her everything, escaping with Yoren, meeting Gendry and Lommy and Pot Pie, Harrenhall, Jaqen H'ghar and his faceless men, how she ran into the Hound who told her he had saved Sansa's life and to ask her if she ever saw her again (Sansa confirmed his story), losing her sight, the Waif, everything.

There was a long stretch of silence before her sister spoke again.

"I'm sorry, Arya."

"I'm not" was her fierce reply. And she found she was telling the truth, everything that happened to her made her who she was. She didn't regret any of it. But she did have one question she wanted to ask Sansa, one question that had been on her mind.

"You said I'd never live through what you did. What happened to you?"

And with an uncomfortable fidget Sansa began her tale.

She began by telling her how Cersei manipulated her with false promises and threats, how she was married off to Tyrion and how he was the only kind thing about King's Landing. About the Hound and the mob, about how he offered to help her escape but how she had been dumb enough to believe that Littlefinger would help her. She told her of the Tyrells and of Joffrey and how he had taken her on the bridge to look at their father's beheaded skull. She told her of her escape, of their Aunt Lysa and her death, and how she had been sold to Ramsay Bolton by Littlefinger himself.

When she got to the part about Ramsay she seemed to falter, her voice growing stiff and her eyes going somewhere far away. She quietly told Arya of how Theon had been tortured past remembering his own name. How he had held her arm as she had been forced to marry Ramsay. How Ramsay had raped her on her wedding night and made Theon watch as he sobbed, how he continued to do just that in their very own home. That he tortured her and murdered anyone who showed her kindness, about his sick hunting games and his dogs.

Things got better when she told her how she and Theon had escaped. How Theon had been prepared to die to get her home, but Brienne had swooped in and saved them at the last minute. She told of how happy she and Jon were to be reunited, they thought they were the only ones left. How they fought for Winterfell and Rickon's death, she told her in graphic detail of Ramsay's death at her hands (she seemed to take great pleasure in doing so), and by the time she finished Arya had to take a moment to gather her thoughts.

She had said she could imagine so terrible things that Sansa had to go through, but even through imagining she hadn't thought she actually went through them. Could she have survived that? Arya was having trouble imagining it, and that in itself told her what she needed to know. Perhaps she could have survived the tortures, but she had absolutely no doubt that her pride would have gotten her in some trouble in Sansa's situation, in a situation where she was always being watched.

And for just a moment, Arya and Sansa understood one another. Why they did the things they did, why they were the people they had turned into.

"I wish I'd gotten a shot at Ramsay. I promise he would have been first on my list had I known" Arya vowed.

"He got what he deserved. I actually thought it was rather poetic…" Sansa said with a far away smile.

With that the sisters hugged, it was a tight one, a hug that said I-missed-you, and I'm-sorry, and its-been-too-long.

Long after it had ended and the fire was going out, Sansa spoke once more with finality.

"Littlefinger needs to die."

Arya just nodded, a hint of a dangerous smile on her face


End file.
